TBC
President Felipe Calderon was in Baja California Sur mid October where he inaugurated the Photovoltaic Solar Power Station, a large-scale solar power plant that he touted as the region’s first.
During the inauguration of the Photovoltaic Solar Power Station, the president said that for his government, it was a priority for Mexico to lead the fight against climate change and the search for alternatives for green growth, in other words, economic growth and employment without harming the environment.
The plant is “the first in Mexico, the first in all of Latin America,” the president said, adding that it will serve as an experimental model for state-owned electric utility Comision Federal de Electricidad (CFE) in its drive to develop renewable energy.
He noted that at present, 26 percent of the electricity produced in Mexico comes from renewable sources, “from water, wind or sun,” in which no oil, natural gas or diesel is consumed.
The 2010-2024 National Development Plan set a goal of increasing clean energy’s share of total electricity production in Mexico to 35 percent.
Calderon also stressed the need to further develop a model that is currently in place in other parts of the country and which involves mounting solar panels on houses to supply needed electricity and connecting them to the national energy grid.
The plant inaugurated was built in the town of Santa Rosalia, which is about an 8-hour drive north of La Paz. The plant is to generate electricity to thousands of people in Santa Rosalia, as well as to be used by CFE as the model for future renewable energy growth.
Microm firm, a Grupo Condumex unit that specializes in renewable energy built the plant. Mexican magnate Carlos Slim, the world’s wealthiest person according to Forbes magazine, owns Condumex.
Calderon concluded his press conference by announcing that the Executive Project to connect the state of Baja California Sur to the mainland through an underground cable has been approved. The underground cable will connect the state to the national electrical grid for the very first time. This will give the state access to CFE’s fiber optic communication system for high speed internet and will allow surplus energy from the mainland to come to the state. The connection to the national power grid is scheduled for 2015.
President Calderón completed his activities in Baja California Sur by supervising work on the “La Higuerilla” Dam, which will guarantee the supply of drinking water for the inhabitants of the municipalities of Comondú and Loreto. The Dam will have the capacity to store 13,700,000 cubic meters and permit the use of run-off. Through the recovery of water from the water table that will occur as a result of the dam, the level of the aquifer will be preserved in order to enable the inhabitants to continue pumping water in the future. In addition to the dam, the president recalled some of the works carried out in the state such as the El Vizcaíno Aqueduct, the works to retain the Insurgentes Stream, the “La Palma” Dam in Los Cabos and the modernization of approximately 10,000 hectares for local farmers.
“We firmly believe in sustainable human development, which permits the growth and expansion of freedoms, capacities and well-being for the present generations without adversely affecting future generations,” declared the president.